Replacement
by DramaticStarlet
Summary: Curse you, traitorous heart, for fluttering! For Ada. ShaneCaitlyn.


**r e p l a c e m e n t  
**(shane / caitlyn)

--

Dear My Awesome Readers,

This is the first of many Christmas fics you're going to have read by me by the end of this month. It's quite sad, really, the amount of friends I have to write stories for. xD I kid, I love writing holiday-themed fics. Especially for my bestest buddies.

This one goes out to the lovely, amazing, fabulous, talented, **pyrolyn-776**. Because we both love Shaitlyn and ridiculous banter. K-MONEY LOVES YOU, ADA BB!!! Way more than you love me. ;D

_**xoxo**_  
Katie Lynn!

--

The smell of Christmas cookies and coffee filled my office as I attempted to unclasp the necklace dangling around my neck.

"Miss Gellar, there's someone who wants to see you," my assistant, a pretty Asian girl named Meiko, called to me from out the door.

"Are you serious? Who is it? Unless it's an absolute emergency and someone's either having a hernia or about to commit suicide if they don't see me this absolute moment, I refuse to have anyone but me in this office," I huffed, still fumbling with the clasp.

"Shane Gray!" Meiko called back.

An irritable growl escape my lips as I said, "Ugh. Alright, send him in, Meiko."

I was still messing with that God forsaken clasp when, in all of his glory, Shane Gray walked in.

"Hey Cait."

His guard was up and his charm was on. Oh. Joy.

"What do you want, Gray? I planned on spending Christmas Eve in my office _alone. _And I can't exactly enjoy anything if you're in here," my words were angry and bitter – just as I intended them to be.

"Cheer up, Gellar. I heard the album sales were good and I came by to congratulate you," Shane smirked.

Oh yeah, I definitely believed that.

Shane Gray, resident idiot and total sleazbag, stopped by just to _congratulate _me?

Sure, sure.

"I'm not in the mood for this, Gray, now get the hell out of my office – come to think of it, my LIFE – before I call the police on your perverted little butt," I huffed in frustration, pointing to the door.

"You love me, Caity, don't you?"

"As much as I love cold sores."

After a few more verbal jabs at one another I heard Meiko say, "I'm going to head out, Miss Gellar, is that all right?"

"Fine with me. Merry Christmas!"

"You too!"

The lights in the hallway outside my office going off signaled that Meiko had left. And since all of the other employees at Pinstripe Records had gone home to spend time with their families, it was just me and Shane.

How fun.

"Are you going to tell me the real reason you came? Or do I have to verbally kick you ass some more?"

Shane's head seemed to deflate a little.

"I told you. I came to congratulate on the record," his eyes seemed to sparkled a little less brilliantly.

"Shane."

It was almost like coaxing the truth out of a small child, to be perfectly honest.

"Alright, fine. I called Nate to ask if you were going to Jason and Tess's Christmas party, and he said that you were planning on spending the night at your office. I came here because I didn't want you to be here alone – there's some real creepers out there," Shane sighed, running a hand through his thick black hair.

"Don't make me laugh, Gray. I'm a big girl now."

As soon as the words left my mouth, the lights flickered off.

Screw you, Karma.

"Wanna re-think that?"

"Just shut up and get some candles. You might as well make yourself useful."

"Can we please be pleasant to each other, just for a while?" Shane pleaded.

I sighed in resignation.

He'd turned off his charm.

I might as well turn off the hostility for a while.

--

I didn't always dislike Shane so much. In fact, when we first knew each other, I was enamored of him.

He was an aspiring rockstar (along with his brothers), and I was just a girl who loved music.

For three summers we were friends. I was 11-13, just discovering myself. He was 13-15, trying to _get _discovered. Unlikely friendship, I know, but it happened. Boy...did it ever HAPPEN.

The summer I turned 14 (him 16), he was signed by Pipeline Records (a rival of Pinstripe, go figure). He called me every night, and referred to me as his girlfriend.

He stopped calling me in mid-November. I waited. And waited.

_Nothing._

The next time I saw him, back at Camp Rock the next June for an "attitude adjustment"...

He'd fallen for someone else. My friend, Mitchie.

For the record?

It didn't feel too good.

And now, here I was, 10 years later. _Still _bitter.

--

"Do you need some help with that?" Shane eyed me curiously when I began messing with my necklace again.

"I'm fine," I insisted, cursing the moment I decided to put the stupid thing on.

Within two minutes I said, "Please help me."

Shane chuckled softly and moved his hands around to where the necklace clasp was. My breath caught in my throat when his fingers grazed my necklace (curse you, traitorous heart for FLUTTERING).

After a couple of minutes of fumbling in the darkness, I could finally feel the silver chain slip from my neck.

"Thank God," I murmured, feeling the space around my neck.

"Thank Shane, you mean," Shane corrected me.

I laughed in spite of myself; "I'm sorry, thank _Shane._"

We sat in (dare I say) companionable silence before I felt something warm encircle my hand.

"Shane, get your away from mine or so help me God – "

"I'm not even touching you!" was his response.

Puzzled, I looked down at my hand to realize that I had placed it over a vent that had suddenly kicked on.

Heat. But still no light. I could deal with that.

"The heat came on."

"Oh."

"That means you can go to Jason and Tess's party."

"I don't think so."

A wave of hostility suddenly overcame me; "Don't want to see Mitchie, hm? You two aren't going to get back together for the umpteenth time?"

"Dammit, Caitlyn, why do you always have to bring her up?!" Shane demanded, standing up abruptly.

"Because she's your girlfriend, remember? Or did you break up again, I don't really know!"

"_Because_ Shane! When you stopped calling me, that hurt, and then less than a year later you fell for someone else! One of my FRIENDS! I've been comparing myself to Mitchie since that first day I saw you look at her. You're an ass, Shane, and you'll never stop being one. Why don't you just go back to Mitchie and tell her your pretty little lies, because I don't want to hear them."

I hadn't cried since I was seventeen years old, but I could feel tiny tears forming in my eyes.

"I was a stupid kid, Caitl-"

"You not a stupid kid anymore, so why do you keep acting like one?" I accused, my cheeks scalding.

"Caitlyn, talk to me. I want to know-"

"I just told you! Oh my _freaking _God, Shane! I'm mad right now because you're here, at my office, pretending like nothing ever happened between us!"

"Okay, okay. Look, Caitlyn, just hear me out. I _was _an ass. I stopped calling because the label told me to. They said that relationships should stay at home, so I stopped. I know it wasn't smart or considerate, but I didn't know what else to do.

"I do love Mitchie, Caitlyn, I do. But not as much as I love you. When I first met her, I was so whipped. And then five minutes later I saw you and...God. Mitchie was – she still is – just a replacement for you," Shane said, his voice tired and grainy.

"Why would you want a replacement when you could have gotten the real thing?" my voice was barely above a whisper.

"I thought you weren't going to take me back," Shane shrugged as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I was pretty mad, Shane, but I would've gotten over it."

"Are you still mad?"

My angry facade crumbled, and reduced me to tears. I could feel Shane's arms around me, pressing me to him. _Damn you, Gray. Playing dirty. _I didn't know what to do – it seemed as though my limbs were completely immobilized.

"Are you still mad?" he repeated, his velvety voice melting my bones to butter (guess he still had the same effect on me).

This caused me to let out a sort of bitter laugh which, combined with my tears, sounded more like a distraught cry.

"Caity, don't cry," he murmured into my ear.

I was a damn fool to melt at his touch and let my heart flutter when he spoke, but honestly, I was tired of being bitter and angry.

My tears dried within minutes, leaving behind only salty, watery trails on my cheeks (thank God I'd opted out on mascara that day).

"Are you going to get back together with Mitchie?" I sighed.

"No. I couldn't even if I tried," Shane shook his head and kissed my hair.

I smiled in spite of myself.

"So that leads me back to my question," he smirked, "are you still mad?"

I smiled wryly; "I'll get over it."

"When?" he looked disappointed.

"When you kiss me."

His hazel-brown eyes lit up, and he leaned down to kiss me. I tilted my head upward, and our lips finally met in a sweet, simple kiss (surprising, considering our exchange of words had been so passionate).

"Will you _please _tell me the real reason you cam here, Gray?" I smiled.

"I didn't want you to spend Christmas Eve alone," was his reply.

I rolled my eyes and laughed.

He proceeded to cut me off with another kiss, to which I welcomed gratefully.

I decided that if I was going to be deeply, madly, truly, completely, head-over-feet, crazy-as-hell in love with someone...

It might as well be Shane Gray.

Because in case you haven't already noticed...

He's kind of irreplaceable.

--

:) Shaitlyn is just too cute. Srsly, I adore it. Joe and Alyson could have so much chemistry if they even acknowledged each other in CR2!!

**Anyways, please review with more than "so cute" or "i loved it," thanks.**

Oh, and I hope you liked it, ADA BB!! :)


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